Reel slot machines have been used in gaming establishments for more than one hundred years. The traditional reel slot machine has three mechanical reels that rotate around a common horizontal axis. A reel strip is attached around the circumference of each slot reel and the reel strip contains a plurality of symbols thereon. As each reel comes to a stop, a symbol on the perimeter of the reel strip is displayed on a horizontal pay line on the face of the gaming machine. If the symbols that align on the payline match one of the preselected winning combinations, the player is a winner.
From the traditional three reel, single payline slot machine, newer slot machine concepts have evolved. Slot machines have been developed that have multiple paylines--such as additional horizontal paylines, diagonal paylines and even V-shaped paylines. The number of reels have been increased beyond the basic three reel slot machines; four reels, five reels and more have been used up to the classic Big Bertha slot machine that has ten reels.
Besides using mechanical reels, slot machines have been developed that use video representations of spinning reels. However, when video reel slot machines were initially developed, they were not as successful as the mechanical spinning reel slot machines because the players felt that their chances of winning were lower on video slot machines. On a mechanical spinning reel slot machine, a player has a feel for the number of symbols that are located on the reel strip which is mounted around the circumference of the spinning wheel and therefore the player perceives that he knows the odds of each symbol appearing on a payline. In a video slot machine, the player has no way of perceiving how many symbols are possible to appear in each window behind the payline. Therefore, the player perception is that he is receiving a better opportunity of winning on a mechanical spinning reel slot machine.
One of the more popular video reel slot machines in the world that has been created is a five reel, nine payline slot machine. These slot machines are known as "Australian" style slot machines since their genesis appears to have been in Australia. When the video representation of the reels stop spinning, fifteen symbols are displayed to the player disposed in three horizontal rows and five vertical columns. On this three-by-five matrix formed by the three rows and five columns of symbols that are shown, nine separate paylines are provided. ##STR1##
These nine payline configurations are merely representative of any of a myriad of payline configurations that can be used and the number of paylines can be more or less than nine paylines.
Each coin, token or credit wagered by the player activates in sequential order the paylines. The player must wager nine coins to activate all nine paylines with one coin on each line. A maximum of five credits is usually allowed (although other gaming machines of this type can have a maximum number of credits less than five or more than five up to as many as twenty per payline) on each payline so the maximum wager by the player would be forty-five credits.
For example, there is in use in Australia a video reel slot machine that has twenty paylines and allows up to twenty coins, tokens or credits to be wagered on each payline.
A plethora of winning symbol combinations are provided so that the player has a large number of various opportunities to win depending on which symbols are displayed in which locations on the reels when the reels stop spinning.
In order to improve the player appeal of mechanical or video spinning reel slot machines, a recent development has been what are known as secondary event slot machines. In secondary event slot machines, the player first plays a main game. If a preselected event occurs during the play of the main game, the player is provided with a secondary event which allows the player an opportunity to win a bonus payout.
One of the first secondary event games that was created for the slot machine market is a game known as the "WHEEL OF FORTUNE" based on the television game show of the same name. When the third reel of the slot machine displayed a "Spin" symbol on the payline, the secondary event was represented by a replica spinning wheel. The player would press a special "Spin" button on the button panel of the gaming to activate the replica spinning wheel to rotate. When the replica spinning wheel came to rest after a few seconds, the player would win the amount shown in the arcuate segment demarcated by an indicator. The winning segment was randomly determined by the electronics of the game. The player could win as many as one thousand coins during this secondary event phase of the game.
The popularity of "WHEEL OF FORTUNE" spawned other secondary event games. Currently a very popular secondary event game is the video reel slot machine known as "REEL 'EM IN" which is an Australian style five reel, nine payline video slot machine that provides the player with a secondary event if certain preselected winning combinations are achieved on the paylines. In this game, which has a fishing theme, if the player achieves a secondary event opportunity, the first video screen display is replaced by a second video screen display which shows five fishermen sitting in boats. The player selects a fisherman and video animation shows the fisherman reeling in a fish. The size of the fish caught determines the multiplier applied to the amount of the player's wager which is how the secondary event payout is determined.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a video reel slot machine in which the main game has at least five reels and at least nine paylines and the secondary event game is a video display selection game and the player is provided with multiple chances at the secondary event game.
It is a feature of the present invention to provide, in the preferred embodiment, a slot machine with at least five video reels and at least nine paylines which also includes a secondary event selection game. The secondary event selection game, in the preferred embodiment, is a video display that allows the player to chose from a plurality of objects which will then reveal the amount won by the player, such as a plurality of wrapped presents placed under a Christmas tree. The player is also given multiple selections in the secondary event game with the number of selections based on the number of paylines that have been activated by the player prior to the spin of the reels in the main game, or by the number of coins played by the player on the main game or by the winning combinations achieved by the player in the main game.
It is an advantage of the present invention that the player will be encouraged to play more paylines in the main game or wager more coins in the main game or activate the main game more often since the player will receive multiple chances at the secondary event feature based on the number of paylines or the number of coins played by the player or by the frequency and type of winning combinations achieved by the player in the main game.
Other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from a consideration of the following detailed description.